Carolyn McDowall
Fashion – the Elixir of Life
Sydney stylist Jo Bayley offers observations about the world of fashion, style and travel in a column on The Culture Concept Circle home page – Fashion Elixir
Preserving Liberty and Law during the Enlightenment @ London
Our understanding of the meaning of both liberty and justice is at the very heart of the establishment of today’s modern western culture.
French Impressions
While passionate, unlike their posh artist predecessors the so-called French Impressionist painters (1874 – 1886), with a few exceptions, were mostly spectacularly poor. They wanted to provide an all-new view of life and not follow an old set of rules. They pulled away from the French Academy, whose focus was on the ancient past, to [...]
Collectors & Connoisseurs
The Regency era in England from 1811 when Prince of Wales ruled England until his father’s death in 1820, saw the rise of the first professional art critics. They were either wealthy connoisseurs or collectors, like Richard Payne Knight (who had a fine eye for erotica) or working journalists like William Hazlitt. He contributed to [...]
Amazing Grace – William Wilberforce and the Hymn to Freedom
Amazing Grace is a movie about British idealist William Wilberforce (1759-1833) who single handed ended the British transatlantic slave trade. Welsh Actor Ioan Gruffudd as Wilberforce sang the hymn to freedom to inspire others to join him
The Romance of the Middle Ages @the Bodleian Library
The Romance of the Middle Ages’ an exhibition commencing January 28, 2012 at Oxford in England showcases manuscripts and early printed books containing romantic literature.
National Year Reading 2012 – Creating the Future of Learning
Do you Love2Read? 2012 in Australia is the National Year of Reading. Ensuring that Australians become a nation that loves to read is what it is all about. It’s also about boosting the literacy of children and adults, especially on a screen.
Roman Sculpture
The portrait as a record of an individual’s personal appearance is one of the most successful and enduring genres of ancient Roman art. Romans surrounded themselves with the Greek sages, whom they admired and placed them in their homes. Today we would have no difficulty recognizing Julius Caesar from his surviving portraits, because statuary of [...]
Marion Hume – In Style @ Mossgreen Gallery and The Ivy Room
The InForum Group, run by two key lifestyle Sydney based professional industry figures Jenny Garber and Fiona Coogan, will present special guest speaker fashion and travel journalist Marion Hume as the business community gets back into gear to start the 2012 year.
Chinoiserie – Pavilions, Porcelains and Passionate Pursuits
By the eighteenth century in Europe and England all things Chinese had assumed incredible proportions as fashionable society sought to transmit their ideas about the magical land of Cathay through a multiplicity of imagery.
Lysippus of Sicyon and Pathos
Athens, in antiquity, is the place where many believe architects and artisans have never been more successfully engaged between the meeting of the human and the divine. We can surely believe such a statement when we view the statue of the spirit of wild nature, Silenus gently cradling the infant Greek god of wine, Dionysus [...]
Inspiring a Nation – Theodore C. Sorensen
When the New York Times reported the death of Theodore C. Sorensen, close adviser and counselor to John F. Kennedy (JFK) for eleven years, In the scheme of things here in Australia in 2010 that may not mean very much to a large majority of people. However Ted Sorensen was the man who assisted JFK give form to his ideas, helped him to shape his personality and image and to forge a powerful legacy through the logic, sense and empowerment of his words. During his journey in the public spotlight JFK must certainly have been pleased to have Sorensen by his side. His was a talent that deserves to be applauded.
Men in Vogue – Downton Abbey to Draper & Clooney to Caffrey
Men of style who are in Vogue have always looked ‘sharp’ and sensational. As my daughter in law would say, wow, they are sure eye candy on a massive scale.
Literacy and Cultural Development
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declares that literacy is a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for cultural development. It has drafted the following definition: “Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy [...]
Heartbreak and Happiness – Being a Bibliophile
Heartbreak and happiness is part of the story of being a bibliophile. In a way surrounding myself with books has been part of my looking to value myself and to conserve my health and wellbeing for a very long time. They have also aided my life’s journey and over the years practically helped me plan many adventures, both at home and overseas.
Da Vinci’s Painting Show at London – Mysteries Revealed
An exhibition at the National Gallery of London until February 5, 2012 concentrates on work produced during the period of his life spent in Milan when Ludovico Sforza sponsored him (1482 – 1499).
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